Indonesia assures that haze will not reoccur this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia has assured other Asean countries including Malaysia that it would take steps to prevent the haze from occurring this year, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
"I am very confident following assurances from our Indonesian counterparts on their tremendous efforts in 2016.
"By 2020 hopefully we will be able to achieve zero-haze status," he told reporters after chairing the 19th meeting of the Asean sub-regional ministerial steering committee on trans-boundary haze pollution, at the Le Meridien Hotel, here, today.
Also present were Brunei's Minister of Development Datuk Bahrin Abdullah, Singapore's Minister of Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli Masagos Abdullah, Indonesia's advisor to the Minister of Environment and Forestry Arief Yuwono, Thailand's permanent secretary for the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry Wijarn Simachaya and Asean secretary-general Le Luong Minh.
Wan Junaidi said the assurance from the Indonesian government was evident, last year, when they deployed the police, army and local authorities to conduct enforcement against those responsible for open burning in the country.
"As a result they were able to reduce the effects of the haze significantly. According to scientific data, Malaysia and Singapore had only suffered from haze between two to three days due to their efforts," he said.
Despite the unlikely occurrence, Wan Junaidi said if the haze was to re-emerge, the government will deploy its assets to assist Indonesian authorities to stop the fires.
"This matter was agreed by the Prime Minister himself. We will deploy our Bombardier aircraft to assist in extinguishing the peat fires which causes the haze," he added.
The country is expected to be free of the cross border haze this year, he said, as the current hot and dry spell experienced in parts of Malaysia would not be as severe as what the country experienced during the same period, last year.
"The Meteorological Department had informed me regarding the weather forecast up to April next year.
"Dry weather is expected in August and September, and then the rainy season will begin in October," he added.